“Everything is so tactile,” says Home Beautiful Editor-in-Chief Elle Lovelock, stepping inside Metricon’s Artisan 56 display home in Rye. “It’s just the thing you want in a beachside home.”
It’s a simple observation, but it captures something essential about where Australian home design is heading. At Metricon’s Love by Design Masterclass – hosted by Elle alongside Metricon’s home design specialist May Pok and interior design lead Kristina Orban – that idea of tactility, of homes that feel as good as they look, became a thread running through every conversation.
During the course of the glorious autumn day on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the conversation between the three experts ranged widely – from the practicalities of flexible floorplans built around modern family life, to the shift toward interiors designed with calm and wellness in mind. What emerged was a picture of Australian home design in evolution, responding to the way people actually want to live today. And with Metricon’s Artisan 56, with its modern beach house interior, as the backdrop, those ideas weren’t abstract – they were visible in every room.
The floorplan for your new home
Where once a home had a simpler function – to provide a separation from work and school, homes now need to support multiple aspects of life. May identifies these three key influences:
- Remote work and study – home offices are now core design features.
- Wellness and relaxation – homes increasingly include spaces for retreat and interior styles such as Japandi, Nordic and Coastal really emphasise calm and relaxation.
- Multigenerational living – design needs to balance privacy and shared spaces, separate living zones, flexible bedroom layouts and areas that bring families together.
She believes that good design balances connection and privacy and that homes must feel flexible and adaptable across life stages.
The floorplan also plays the most important role in shaping the way we live in a home. “Clever design can make homes feel spacious regardless of size,” says May. This can be achieved through great use of natural light, open sightlines and multifunctional spaces. The focus should be on liveability rather than footprint alone.
If the floorplan shapes how a home functions, it’s the interior design that determines how it feels.
Interior design style trends
Interior design styles have also been refreshed by our lifestyle preferences. With the help of Metricon’s latest Lookbook, Kristina wants to help customers visualise their complete design stories. And she’s seen three style groups resonate the most regularly with customers:
- Japandi and Nordic for calm simplicity.
- Palm Springs and Mid Century Modern for their distinctive and expressive style.
- Modern beach house and classic Hamptons which suit Australian lifestyles.
The elements that tie all these styles together is layered materials that bring warmth, comfort and a tactile nature to help ground us in the moment and essentially help us to ‘feel’ at home.
It’s a design philosophy that resonates far beyond a display homes. “The rise in calm and wellness has become integral to the Australian way of living,” says Elle. “It’s so great to see it incorporated into design from the start.” Whether you’re drawn to the quiet restraint of Japandi, the sun-bleached ease of Modern Beach House or the timeless appeal of Hamptons, the Metricon Lookbook is a practical starting point for bringing your own design story to life – and building a home that doesn’t just look beautiful but genuinely feels like yours.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
